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A review by sidharthan
Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert
4.0
I think I have a love/hate relationship with this book. There are many things to like about this book. And other things that I absolutely loathed.
For starters, there is the protagonist - Frederic. He is one of the most spineless people there ever were! The character is very real and so is my hatred for him. I did want my own sense of justice to prevail and I wanted horrible things to happen to him. But Flaubert does it much better and there is something very life-like about the whole narrative. Almost none of the characters are ideal. Everyone is hateful and spiteful in a way. Deslauriers was another despicable character that I felt strongly about. Perhaps making the reader feel so strongly about these people is in itself laudable. It felt very appropriate that the story ended with these two reminiscing about their youth and their ideals.
There is a love story hidden amidst all the political turmoil and the moral dialogues that go on. It felt like a fresh take on love. You know how sometimes the love in your head for a person is much better and purer than the love you actually engage in? This story is almost a homage to that. Frederic and the married woman he falls for never come together in a way lovers do. But through everything they do hold something for each other. I loved that this was left unconsumed in the end. The way the characters react to each other is also wonderful. Frederic often frustrated by his pining decides to break away and start with another woman, a woman who he gives up without a thought for his central love again. This kind of love has not been often portrayed - flawed, imperfect and very human nevertheless. There was a little of idealizing this which was not, well, ideal. But other than that this sense of morality about this was very refreshing. It was not portrayed as something wrong, in fact judgement was mostly left out of it.
There is a lot of reference to the political scenario in France at the time this book is set in. I must say that ignored footnotes notwithstanding, this went over my head a bit. There are ways in which this plays into the narrative but it did not feel very important to the central play of characters. I do think having the context would help enjoy this work further but I was not invested enough in French History to engage. Perhaps a different reader might enjoy these things more.
Like any good book should, this book leaves you with questions - about love and morality for the most part but also about ambition and life. And for that I give it four stars!
For starters, there is the protagonist - Frederic. He is one of the most spineless people there ever were! The character is very real and so is my hatred for him. I did want my own sense of justice to prevail and I wanted horrible things to happen to him. But Flaubert does it much better and there is something very life-like about the whole narrative. Almost none of the characters are ideal. Everyone is hateful and spiteful in a way. Deslauriers was another despicable character that I felt strongly about. Perhaps making the reader feel so strongly about these people is in itself laudable. It felt very appropriate that the story ended with these two reminiscing about their youth and their ideals.
There is a love story hidden amidst all the political turmoil and the moral dialogues that go on. It felt like a fresh take on love. You know how sometimes the love in your head for a person is much better and purer than the love you actually engage in? This story is almost a homage to that. Frederic and the married woman he falls for never come together in a way lovers do. But through everything they do hold something for each other. I loved that this was left unconsumed in the end. The way the characters react to each other is also wonderful. Frederic often frustrated by his pining decides to break away and start with another woman, a woman who he gives up without a thought for his central love again. This kind of love has not been often portrayed - flawed, imperfect and very human nevertheless. There was a little of idealizing this which was not, well, ideal. But other than that this sense of morality about this was very refreshing. It was not portrayed as something wrong, in fact judgement was mostly left out of it.
There is a lot of reference to the political scenario in France at the time this book is set in. I must say that ignored footnotes notwithstanding, this went over my head a bit. There are ways in which this plays into the narrative but it did not feel very important to the central play of characters. I do think having the context would help enjoy this work further but I was not invested enough in French History to engage. Perhaps a different reader might enjoy these things more.
Like any good book should, this book leaves you with questions - about love and morality for the most part but also about ambition and life. And for that I give it four stars!